FEATURED AUTHOR - Electa Rome Parks

SORMAG: Please give the readers a brief bio on you the person and the writer.

Electa Rome Parks, one of the rising stars in contemporary fiction, is the author of the best-selling novels THE TIES THAT BIND and LOOSE ENDS, which were originally self-published through her own company, Novel Ideal Publishing and Editorial Services Company, a company now dedicated to quality editorial services.

After successfully self-publishing her debut novels, New American Library, a division of Penguin Group, bought the rights. Mrs. Parks signed a three-book deal with New American Library. Her first novel, THE TIES THAT BIND, was re-released in October 2004, and LOOSE ENDS was re-released in November 2004. Both books were immediately chosen as Black Expressions Book Club selections and embraced as Books of the Month by book clubs across the country. A third manuscript, ALMOST DOESN'T COUNT, which was immediately chosen as the main selection for Black Expressions Book Club, was released in August 2005.

Recently, Electa signed her second and third book deals with Penguin Group/New American Library and HarperCollins/Avon Red. Her upcoming projects are: LADIES' NIGHT OUT (NAL, January 2007) which was immediately chosen as a Black Expressions Book Club selection and THESE ARE MY CONFESSIONS (Avon Red, July 2007).

Electa Rome Parks has been a frequent guest on radio shows. She’s been interviewed by newspapers, Vibe Vixen, Upscale Magazine, Rolling Out and Booking Matters, to name just a few. Parks lives outside Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two children. With a BA degree in marketing and a minor in sociology, she is following her true passion and working on her next novel.



SORMAG: Tell us about your current book?

PARKS: My current book, which dropped on January 2nd is titled, Ladies' Night Out

Zane has praised Electa Rome Parks’s writing for her “cutting-edge dialog, intriguing characters, and spicy storyline.” Now she delights readers with the steamy story of four best friends—Lexie, Meshell, Tonya and Tracee—who have met once a month for years to savor “Ladies Night” and escape the drama of high-pressure careers and families. But their friendships will never be the same when one night someone asks, What's the freakiest thing you've ever done? As confessions pour as quickly as their cocktails, the women discover they don’t know each other as well as they thought they did. But will their revelations tear them apart—or make them closer than ever before?

SORMAG: What would you like your readers to take away from your book?

PARKS: I would like for my readers to come away thoroughly entertained; I'd like them to have fun with Ladies' Night Out and appreciate their own bonds of friendship.

SORMAG: What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

PARKS: That is a great question! Hmmm. . . .have a thicker skin. That would have saved me a lot of frustration.

SORMAG: What one thing about writing do you wish other non-writers would understand?

PARKS: The literary industry is a business. Sales, which translate into dollars, is the bottom line.

SORMAG: What aspect of writing do you love the best, and which do you hate the most?

PARKS: I love the creative aspect; I hate the business side.

SORMAG: What music do you listen to when you’re writing?

PARKS: Absolutely none.

SORMAG: What was the last book to keep you up at night reading it?

PARKS: He Ain't The One by Carl Weber and Mary Morrison

SORMAG: If you could take five books on a desert island what would they be?

PARKS: The Ties That Bind

Loose Ends

Almost Doesn't Count

Ladies' Night Out

These Are My Confessions

SORMAG: What do you do to make time for yourself?

PARKS: I shop, collect African American memorabilia, read, and go to the movies and plays.

SORMAG: How can readers get in contact with you? (mail, email, website)

PARKS: Readers can get in contact with me via my e-mail address at novelideal@aol.com or my website at www.electaromeparks.com.